Traffic doors are typically used in commercial establishments to allow two-way traffic through a doorway. Such doors may be used in a variety of such establishments including supermarkets, restaurants, retail stores, hospitals, walk-in coolers, etc.
The doors may be provided singly or in pairs, and mount to a door frame by hinges which allow the doors to freely swing in opposite directions, i.e. both inwardly into a room and outwardly from the room. In a commercial establishment, this allows employees to freely move between two adjacent rooms merely by pushing on the freely, swingable doors wherein the doors automatically return to the closed position without any further action from the employee, which thereby facilitates the traffic flow of employees from room to room.
More particularly, such traffic doors also have a hinge arrangement connecting each door to a door frame which allows the doors to swing in opposite directions, but also gently closes or returns the door to a closed or “rest” position blocking the doorway. Examples of such a hinge assembly are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,160,913 and 3,289,244, which patents were obtained by the assignee of the present invention. The disclosures of these patents are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. These hinge assemblies operate to close the door without the need for a spring arrangement that would generate a spring force to bias the doors to a closed position. Rather, the hinge assemblies disclosed in these patents use a roller assembly which generates a closing action on the doors by gravity acting upon the door itself.
A specific example of such traffic doors is the family of doors sold by the present assignee, namely Eliason Corporation, under its EASY SWING® trademark.
It is an object of the invention to provide an improved door assembly of this general type which incorporates an improved hinge assembly which serves to releasably restrain the door in both a closed position, and in open positions preferably oriented at right angles relative to the closed position.
The invention relates to an improved door assembly which positively restrains the door in a normally closed position. The improved door assembly preferably includes an improved top pin assembly which not only provides positive restraining of the door in the closed position, but also allows for positive restraining of the door in at least two fully open positions, preferably oriented at right angles relative to this closed position. In this manner, the top pin assembly provides integral restraining of the door, such that separate external restraining devices are not required to maintain the door in the open position. This allows for free traffic flow through the doorway for individuals who may be carrying bulky or heavy loads, or pushing carts. Where the traffic volume is high, at least on a temporary basis, the top pin hinge assembly allows the door to simply be opened to the fully open position wherein the top pin assembly automatically holds the door in this position until the door is manually pushed in the direction of closing which then causes the door assembly to automatically return to the fully closed position.
Other objects and purposes of the invention, and variations thereof, will be apparent upon reading the following specification and inspecting the accompanying drawings.
Certain terminology will be used in the following description for convenience and reference only, and will not be limiting. For example, the words “upwardly”, “downwardly”, “rightwardly” and “leftwardly” will refer to directions in the drawings to which reference is made. The words “inwardly” and “outwardly” will refer to directions toward and away from, respectively, the geometric center of the arrangement and designated parts thereof. Said terminology will include the words specifically mentioned, derivatives thereof, and words of similar import.